You’re My Work Wife
by SK-Stanatic-SK
Summary: 2x11 (The fifth bullet) AU What if Kate reacted in another way while making the joke about Castle proposing to the dog? (Sorry if the grammar is not 100% correct but English is not my first language)
1. One

She was driving through the high amount of cars in New York's street, it was late evening, almost night; the precinct called her, there had been a murder. She called Castle on her way there, she told him about the murder but, since it was late, she said he could have stayed home. Obviously he disagreed, telling her that he was on his way there.

She laughed, even though she found him pretty annoying when they first met, she had to admit he was a good friend after all and well a good... partner? Was he her partner after all? No, co-worker. That's it, that's better, even if he wasn't actually working for the precinct...

She shook her head while she stopped the car in the parking lot near the murder scene. She got out of the car and she saw Castle... on the ground... with... was that a dog?

"On one knee?" she questioned laughing

"That's a good girl" she heard him saying

"What's up Castle? You proposing?" she joked. How did she even pulled out that?

"Oh, no. Just waiting for you" He answered getting up

What did he just said? He was waiting for her? For what? For proposing? Or just for the murder scene? Kate get yourself together, it's obvious that he is talking about the case, why did you even think about the other possibility?

He found her staring for a while at him and he gave her a perplexed look

"That's too bad. You two make a cute couple." she tried to save the situation by answering with a joke

"Yeah. Hey, you think I should get a dog?" he asked, he had always loved dogs and maybe he will get one, he asked for her opinion

"What am I, your wife?" she said out of the blue.

Kate stop it, why did you tell that? Do you have feelings for him? Of course you do, otherwise you wouldn't understand things that doesn't exist and bring up topics you'll regret

"Yeah, you're my work wife" he genuinely answered her smiling

Her heart skipped a beat, what did he just say?

"No, I'm not your work wife" she answered back

"I could get a bloodhound. I could name him Sherlock, and then I could-I could bring him to crime scenes." he started fantasizing

She wasn't listening. Was she his work wife? What's a work wife? Was that some kind of joke? Was he flirting with her? Would she mind if he flirted with her?

"Beckett are you ok?" his voce brought her back to reality

"Yes sure, let's go" she said heading for the crime scene


	2. Two

She had been thinking about that conversation all night and the next day, when her mind took a little break from thinking about the case, there it was, that "work wife" echoed in her mind. Heading home that night she almost asked him to take a beer with her, but the fear of him refusing blocked her.

She went home alone, she took a bath and she read a couple pages of her book, but her mind was stuck there. Was she falling for him? No, she wasn't. She was just misunderstanding the situation, he wasn't flirting, he was just being nice, plus, maybe he was already dating someone. She pictured him going out for a date with some random blonde girl with his hand on her hips... but she shut down that thought as quickly as it was made up. Was she jealous? Why was she jealous? Just because she wasn't dating anyone that doesn't mean he couldn't.

She went to bed, she just needed some good sleep before going to work next morning.

When she woke up the sun wasn't even up yet, but her phone ringing became her alarm.

"Beckett" she said picking up the phone

"Ok, I'll be there" there was an update in the case, they found something

She took a quick shower and she got dress, she took the car and headed for the precinct, totally forgetting to have breakfast, like always.

Entering the homicide floor she saw Castle sitting on his chair, waiting for her

"You're here" she said taking off her coat and putting it on the desk

"I'm your partner, of course I'm here" he answered her

Partner? Is he her partner? Ok, she'll call him her partner from now on... or maybe not... he was for sure someone she trusted

"You look terrible" he told her

"Well thanks Castle, that's nice of you to say that" she joked

"No sorry, I mean... you're beautiful but it looks like you haven't slept or took your coffee" he answered her apologizing

Did he just called her beautiful? She tried not to blush, obviously failing

"I- I didn't have breakfast" she managed to answer

"Ok I'll be right back" he said getting up and going away

Kate, get yourself back together, you have work to do. She started looking for evidences and...

"Espo where's the paper with all the phone calls?" she shouted, she just needed to check something

"It's on my desk, you can take it" he answered

She got up and headed to Espo's desk when she crushed against someone, one second later she felt her shirt wetting with something hot that looked like... coffee? Yeah it was definitely coffee, her white shirt just turned light brown and... oh God, Castle.

"Brought you coffee..." he said looking down at her, watching as the brown liquid was all over her

She looked up at him, finding his face closer than she thought

"I-" she started, looking at him in the eyes and then dropping her eyes on his lips

"I'm so sorry, let me help you" he said putting the mug on the nearest desk and taking some tissues

He was about to clean her but then he realized where he was about to touch and he thought that she would have killed him, so he just gave the tissue to her, who started drying her neck and the skin that peeked up from her shirt's v-neck.

"I'm sorry, I'll pay your laundry" he said looking at the coffee stain on her shirt

"Don't worry Castle, I got it" she answered smiling softly and trying not to blush as he looked at her

"Sorry" he said heading for the exit while she kept looking at him

Kate you are acting like a 15 years old girl, what's wrong with you? You've never acted like this near a guy, not even near your ex boyfriends. You are acting like you're head over heels for him and now he is gone... maybe you scared him, maybe he has a girlfriend and acting like this you fucked everything up because he felt awkward...

She sat on her chair and started working again, she needed to think about something else.


	3. Three

A couple of hours later they arrested their suspect and they put him under arrest. Castle wasn't there with them, she fucked everything up so bad, what if he would never come back? She managed to hide the coffee stain with her coat all day, she just wanted to go home and change right now

When she headed back to her desk she heard the sound of the elevator and she saw Castle coming out of it with a shopping bag in his hand

"Did you left us alone for some shopping? Just for the record we caught our killer" she said while he approached her

He smiled and he put the bag on her desk

"What?" She asked confused

"Look I'm sorry for what happened before, that's for you, open it" he answered smiling

She gave him a confused look and she opened the bag, finding a white shirt way more expensive than the one she was wearing

"I- I'm flattered Rick but you didn't have to buy me a new one, plus, this one's quality is a lot higher than the one I'm wearing, I don't know if I can pay you back" she said touching the shirt, it was one of the softest things she had ever touched

Castle gave her a perplexed look, did she just called him Rick? Or maybe his mind just tricked him

"You don't need to, it's a gift, you have to deal with me everyday, the less I can do is to buy you a new shirt" he said

"Thank you, it's really sweet" she smiled

"You're welcome, I thought it would have looked good on you" Rick you're going way out of line, stop it

"Thanks, well you know I can pay you back with a beer after work..." she suggested

He looked at her confused

"If you are free I mean, if you have something else to do we can just- you know- I can buy you a coffee tomorrow" Kate focus for God sake!

"Yeah I'm free we can grab a beer at the Old Hunt" he suggested

"Sure, I just need to go back to my place and change my clothes you know" she pointed out

"Right, I can wait for you there or in the car, as you prefer" he said giving her some possibilities

"Let's meet there cause I also need to take a proper shower and I don't want you to wait a lot" she explained

"I'll pick you up when you're ready ok? You always drive me everywhere during our cases, let me be the one who picks you up for once" he joked

"Ok, well let's say around 9pm?" she suggested

"I'll be there" he answered

She smiled

Once she came home she took a long shower to calm her down from the exhausting day at work

She dried her hair and she started to dress, some black jeans and a shirt would work. She decided to put on the one Castle brought her and she was amazed by the fact that it was just a perfect fit; not too big, not too small, just perfect.

She put on some make up, her high heels and her leather jacket. It was a bit cold outside so she decided to bring a red scarf.

She stood in front of the mirror looking at herself, wondering if her hair was good or if her make up was too heavy... or too light?

She was nervous. She had to admit it, she wanted to look pretty. It wasn't a date but deep dow inside she really wanted it to be, she liked him, was she in love? She didn't know. She wasn't ready for a serious relationship, she tried to have one in the past but she just couldn't deal with someone knowing everything about her. Castle was the only one who knew a lot about her private life and that didn't scare her, but, on the other hand she didn't know how she felt about that.

She decided that, for once, she wouldn't have thought about it. She just wanted to go out with him, talk with him and see what happened, plus, if he was already taken she didn't want to experiment an heartbreak once again.

At 9pm Castle was parked outside her building with his red Ferrari, drawing the attention of the nearest people

"Really? The Ferrari?" she asked sitting on the passenger seat

"It may be the first and last time you let me drive you somewhere, it had to be great, in this way you will ask me to do it again" he answered her turning on the engine


	4. Four

They entered the old hunt finding it fuller than they thought

"Mr. Castle, Detective Beckett, how can we help you?" a waiter asked

"Good evening, we have a reservation for tonight" Rick answered keeping the situation under control

"Sure, follow me please" he told them

Once they arrived at the table Kate was surprised to see that they were in some kind of private corner, it was definitely more quiet than the rest of the pub.

"Glad to see you liked the shirt" he said while she was taking off her jacket

"I really like it, thanks again, you shouldn't have to buy it" she smiled at him, sitting on the chair

"You're welcome, I never got the opportunity to thank you for everything you did for me, for all the time you dealt with my crazy ideas that sometimes are a bit dangerous you know" he said looking at her

"Don't worry, I like having you around" she smiled softly at him

They talked a lot, about personal and private things, about interests and they even found out they liked the same band. He told her that they would have been in New York in a couple weeks and they could go to their concert, it was his idea, she accepted smiling. She didn't know if it was supposed to be a date or an evening out with a friend, she just wanted to spend time with him

They spent a couple hours talking but at some point the place became too crowded and they barely heard each other while talking. They decided to go out and have a walk.

He didn't let her pay, he paid for both of them.

"You should have let me pay, you bought me a shirt and I had to pay you a beer, that was our deal" she said while walking, trying to make her voice sound as normal as possible without letting him know that she was actually freezing, she should have brought a different jacket.

"Ok next time you'll pay, it's not like you'll disappear from my life now, as I said you're my work wife" he said smiling

"Ye- Yeah" she answered blushing, thanking the darkness around them for not letting him see it

"What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?" he asked stopping and looking at her

She looked back at him, not being able to say anything, her heart was beating fast, what if she scared him? What if she misunderstood everything?

"Kate? What's wrong? You're freezing, do you want to go home?" he asked again, taking off his coat and putting it around her

She breathed in his cologne while her body became warmer

"I-... are you flirting with me?" she asked out of the blue

"What?" He said confused

"That work wife thing... are you flirting?" she needed to know

"It's just a joke... I just wanted to say that I'm always with you at work and I always spend my time with you" he answered, he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable

She definitely fucked everything up like always, he didn't like her, she misunderstood the whole story, maybe at first he liked her but now he definitely doesn't anymore

"Oh... ok. I'm sorry I- I should go, maybe you have something better to do" she said looking down and trying to walk back before realizing that he was the one driving her home

He took her softly by her arm

"I don't have something better to do, I just want to understand what's wrong" he said softly looking at her.

She was silent and she kept her head down, looking on the ground. He put his fingers under her chin, lifting her head and making her look at him.

She looked at him in the eyes and then she focused on his lips, like she did that morning in the precinct. Maybe after screwing everything up with this conversation, she wouldn't have seen him again so she had to try

"I- I thought you liked me back but actually I was wrong, I'm so sorry, I'll call a cab and go home so you can go wherever you want, it will always be better than freezing here with me on the street" she said holding back some tears

He looked at her a bit shocked

"Back? Did you just said liked me back?" he asked, did she like him?

"I'm sorry, maybe you liked me at the beginning, back then it was obvious you were flirting but I just- I wasn't ready, and I'm still not ready for something serious but it took me time to realize that I really like you, but obviously it's too late. I'm sorry I'm-" she was cut off by his lips on hers.

His hands landing on her hips, bringing her close, while he kissed her softly. She kissed him back a bit shocked, her cold hands landing on his face. She had never been the type of girl who liked to make out with a guy on the street where everyone could see her, but she needed it more than everything.

He was the one to pull back, looking down at her smiling softly.

"Do you want me to flirt with you? I won't. Otherwise I will tell you that I've been falling for you since we first met because I think you are the most beautiful, smart, sexy, kind, witty woman I've ever met. I know your past and all your insecurities, I know you're not 100% ready to let me know everything about you and that it will be a slow path, but if you let me, I'll be always there for you" he said softly

She kissed him again, deep and slow, pulling away when air became necessary

"I'm sorry it took me almost two years to understand it" she said

"Two years is nothing compared to the amount of time I plan to spend with you" he smiled, kissing her again.

-THE END-


End file.
